The modern nation of Vietnam traces its origins to the Red River Valley, in what is now Tonkin, or northern Vietnam, where peoples with cultures and languages distinct from the Han Chinese founded societies based on wet rice cultivation. One of the unique features of their way of life was the high status accorded to women. The Trung sisters, who struck a blow for independence from Chinese colonial rule in 39–43, were among the earliest Vietnamese patriots.
The Han Chinese emperor Wu-ti (r. 140–87 B.C.E.) conquered the region in 111 B.C.E., but Chinese rule was loose and did not deprive indigenous leaders of authority on the local level. By the early first century, however, it became more intrusive. Heavy taxes in labor and kind were extracted from the population, and Chinese officials promoted cultural assimilation. The keystone of their cultural policy was the replacement of the loosely structured Vietnamese family system with their own rigid patriarchal system, a highly effective instrument of social control. Both policies aroused intense resentment.
According to history and legend, the Chinese prefect of Giao-chi district (the modern Hanoi-Haiphong region) executed an indigenous noble, Thi Sach, who was suspected of anti-Chinese activities. His widow, Trung Trac, refused to don the traditional attire of mourning and raised the banner of rebellion, swearing to avenge her husband and restore the independent Vietnam (Van Lang) of old. Joined by her younger sister Trung Nhi, she raised an army numbering in one account over 80,000 soldiers and drove the Chinese out of the country. Many of her officers were women, indicating the strength of matriarchal values in ancient Vietnam. In 40, Trung Trac was proclaimed queen, and a capital was built for her at Me-linh, an ancient district associated with Vietnam’s legendary Hung kings.
The Chinese emperor fielded his best general, Ma Yuan, against the Trungs, and they suffered defeats at his hands in 42–43. Rather than be captured, the two sisters reportedly drowned themselves in a river (Chinese accounts say they were captured and beheaded).Ma Yuan imposed tight colonial control over the region, executing thousands of rebels and bringing in large numbers of Han Chinese soldiers, officials, and settlers. Only in 939 did Vietnam break free of Chinese rule.
Recent scholarship suggests that Thi Sach was not in fact executed by the Chinese but participated loyally in the uprising instigated by his strong-willed wife. One of the more colorful legends associated with the Trungs is that they killed a man-eating tiger and used its hide to inscribe their call to arms. After Vietnam became independent, temples were raised in their honor, including the twelfth-century Hai Ba Trung temple in Hanoi and the Hat Mon temple in Son Tay Province. Having fought wars against China as well as France and the United States, socialist Vietnam reveres these sisters as national heroines.
References and further reading:
Keith Weller Taylor. The Birth of Vietnam. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1983
